The present invention relates generally to motor vehicles, and more particularly to a backlite retention system for motor vehicles having convertible tops.
Soft or hard convertible vehicle tops often have a rear section containing the rear window, referred to as the backlite. Backlites may be made of a flexible material, such as polyvinyl chloride, or may be made of a rigid material, such as glass.
There are several known systems for retaining windows in motor vehicles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,627 describes various assemblies for mounting a glass window to a metallic window frame, such as a glass pane in a hatchback door or sun roof
In addition, several systems are known for retaining a backlite in a convertible motor vehicle. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,467 describes a backlite retention system for retaining a backlite in a soft top convertible roof. In that system, an elongated carrier is disposed adjacent to an outside surface of a backlite. A portion of the roof cover is wrapped around the end of the carrier and adjacent the outside surface of the backlite and a portion of a seal. A plurality of retainers spaced around the periphery of the backlite compress the roof cover, backlite, and seal against the carrier. A disadvantage of this system is that repair of a broken backlite requires disassembly each of the plurality of the carriers from the retainer. Also, the carrier is external to the backlite and therefore visible from the exterior of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,424 describes a replaceable backlite for a convertible vehicle. The vinyl backlite includes a flexible channel member dielectrically bonded to a peripheral edge of the window. A retainer molding strip fits into the channel member and holds the edge of the soft roof cover in the channel member and covers the outside edge of the backlite and roof. This system is only practical for flexible backlites.